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Welcome back to Insta Stories, a column examining the London restaurant scene through the often-problematic medium of Instagram. This week’s filter is a little blurry after a four-day weekend.
News of the week
Multihyphenate chef-food writer-TV presenter Gizzi Erskine’s multihyphenate food hall- “creative market”-delicatessen-café-wine-shop Mare Street Market is open. Although not entirely. But the stuff that isn’t open is coming soon.
Feed-clogging event / season’s eatings of the week
A radical theory: Easter, not Christmas, is the biggest Instagram event of the year. It’s got the lot: chocolate, eggs, chocolate eggs, pastel colours, seasonal ingredients, a flexible enough culinary brief to allow for some genuine invention in the kitchen rather than boring prescribed roast turkey with all the trimmings.
Nothing on Instagram says “Easter” more unambiguously than the hot cross bun. Seriously, they were everywhere this year: in Michelin-starred restaurants, infused with Earl Grey, turned into babka, turned into croissants, turned into bacon sandwiches. And in every post, the central element of Christian iconography was there, resplendent. Without getting too deep into philosophical musing, it’s fun to ponder if Instagram is itself a form of religion: we speak of followers, after all. Were the disciples the original @IGBrunchClub? Was eternal salvation the original #squadgoals? Was the Last Supper the original pop-up? Was Jesus… the original influencer?
TV pitch of the week
Put them in front of a camera, start filming?
Nightmare hellscape of the week
Shudder.
Restaurant replying to critic of the week
Santa Maria on Michael Deacon.
Call to action menu [clap emoji] of the week
All hail this amazing food for one night only. Don’t miss it.
Props of the week
Want.
Dish and shot of the week
Well it was Easter, after all.